In Depth For a long time Helveticosaurus was thought to be one of the placodonts, specialist marine reptiles that lived in the Triassic seas that fed upon shellfish. However further analysis has revealed that only the vertebra of Helveticosaurus are similar to the placodonts, which has led to Helveticosaurus being re-classed as a diapsid (two … Read more
In Depth The turbulent history of Brontosaurus For well over one hundred years there was a great question asked amongst dinosaur enthusiasts; is Brontosaurus actually Apatosaurus? Well this all began in a period of American paleontological history dubbed the ‘bone wars’, a fierce rivalry between two men named Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh. … Read more
In Depth Although not especially one of the most well-known of the entelodonts, Paraentelodon is one of the largest known genera being comparable to Entelodon and Daeodon in size. Paraentelodon appears in Asia as the earlier Entelodon began to decline and continues to be largest currently known genus of entelodont in Asia in the early … Read more
In Depth At the time of the genus description, Thanatotheristes is known only from very partially preserved skull and jaw bones. However, these bones show that Thanatotheristes was a large tyrannosaur, and one with a close similarity to Daspletosaurus. The discovery of Thanatotheristes has also added further evidence that the tyrannosaurs of Laramidia (the land … Read more
In Depth The Sicilian wolf is a distinct sub species of the gray wolf with the species designation Canis lupus cristaldii. The Sicilian wolf was similar to those known from Italy, though with lighter more tawny coloured fur. The dark band across the forelimbs of the Italian wolf was absent or at most faintly … Read more
In Depth Megapaloelodus is a genus of extinct bird close in form and ecological niche to a modern flamingo, though at the same time Megapaloelodus was only a distant relative. Megapaloelodus is immediately notable for having a distinctly different ankle structure to that of a modern flamingo. This ankle may have allowed the leg to … Read more
In Depth Eousdryosaurus is a genus of small ornithopod dinosaur that lived in Portugal during the late Jurassic. The name Eousdryosaurus means ‘eastern Dryosaurus’, a reference to how Eousdryosaurus is similar to the genus Dryosaurus, but globally lived further to the east, Eousdryosaurus in Portugal, and Dryosaurus in North America. Further Reading - A new … Read more
In Depth Dinaelurus is little known nimravid that is so far only known from the John Day Formation in Oregon, USA. Other North American nimravids that Dinaelurus could have possibly come into contact with include Hoplophoneus, Dinictis, Eusmilus and particularly the type genus of the Nimravidae, Nimravus. Further Reading Further reading- John Day Felidae in … Read more
In Depth When named in 1896, Cynodontosuchus was not only the earliest known sebecosuchian crocodile, it was also the first confirmed as living before the Cenozoic period. Since this time there are now several Cretaceous sebecosuchian crocodiles known to us, and one of these genera, Baurusuchus, has been proposed by some to be a junior … Read more
In Depth A procolophonomorph parareptile from Russia, Rhipaeosaurus lived during the Mid Permian. Rhipaeosaurus was originally placed within its own group the Rhipaeosauridae, though later analysis seems to place Rhipaeosaurus somewhere between being a nycteroleterid to a basal pareiasaur. Further Reading - New Discoveries of Permian Terrestrial Vertebrates in Bashkiria and the Tchkalov Province. - … Read more